A Tap on the Glass - Vol. 65 - Finding Passion in the New Year

One of the side effects of living a full and busy life is the presence of constant “white noise” playing in your mind. Sometimes we're plagued by unfinished business or a to-do list a mile long that nags at the back of our minds. Other times we're experiencing insecurities that are being manifested by that little gremlin in our mind berating us or telling us we are not good enough. Mental clutter seriously negatively affects your personal development by preventing you from moving forward in your life.

No matter what the source of your mental clutter happens to be, it can become serious enough to manifest itself in the form of physical ailments. At the very least, it is a source of constant stress and aggravation. None of us need THAT! So as we look to a New Year....maybe it's time to refocus.

You have to learn to break out of this noise and pattern and to do so, you have to identify what exactly is cluttering your mind. As an exercise, read through these three points and begin listing things or traits (albeit physical clutter, work problems, family problems) that you want to remove from your life.

1. Avoidance Behaviors that Clutter the Mind: A major source of mental clutter is the nagging existence of unfinished business. We tend to avoid situations we find uncomfortable or difficult, and many times we will overburden ourselves with other responsibilities just to avoid an unpleasant task. All this does is make us even more tired and more stressed than before, and the unfavorable task is still waiting. In fact, many times the job left waiting for us becomes even more dreadful in our minds because now we not only have the unfinished business hanging over us, but the anticipation of it builds up its own kind of stress.

Procrastination, which is directly related to avoidance, also causes mental clutter. Whenever you leave a job undone, you are going to have a nagging voice in your head constantly reminding you of the unfinished business. You will also feel physical stress until you just dig in and get the job done.

Avoidance prevents us from using good time management techniques and usually costs us hours in wasted time.

2. The Dangers of Indecision: Much like avoidance, indecision only delays the inevitable. There may be many reasons you hesitate to take action when an important decision needs to be made. In most cases, indecision is caused by a fear of making the wrong decision. By doing nothing though, you will only continue to fret about your situation and the stress you feel will only continue to build.

Forge ahead, trust your instincts, and make a decision. Even if you make the wrong choice, you will at least have cleared your mind of that particular worry. Errors are one of the prime learning opportunities life throws our way, so you still have the chance to take something good away from the experience, even if you do not make the best choice.

3. Overcoming the Feeling of Being Overwhelmed: Sometimes when we have too much to do, we are frozen in confusion, uncertain of where to begin. Large projects or an overloaded calendar can leave you frustrated and overwhelmed. Many of us cannot even decide where to begin when standing in the face of an excessive amount of work.

Rather than look at the whole picture, allowing it to frighten us, break the job down into its component parts. Tackle each task individually, each one bringing you closer to the accomplishment of your overriding goal. When you look at one piece of the puzzle at a time, it helps ease your fears and sense of frustration.

Let go of this stuff. You need to clear out the mental clutter and quiet your mind in order to achieve focus in your life. Having focus will lead you directly to better time management, which translates into greater efficiency and accomplishment. When your life begins running smoothly, you will experience greater peace and satisfaction and fulfillment, and greater success in all areas of your life and in the New Year to come.